


Still Got It- Coran and Doesn't Realize They're Injured

by the_sinnamon_roll_writes



Series: Bad Things Happen [12]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran (Voltron) Angst, I had to have rewritten this at least four times and I'm still not sure how I feel about it, and I see why, he is S O H A R D to write angst for, it says blood once or twice but it's another one I only rated T for cussing, that is a vastly underused tag, this one really isn't graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 02:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17458559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sinnamon_roll_writes/pseuds/the_sinnamon_roll_writes
Summary: Coran goes out in the field for the first time in a long time! this takes place probably pre-season six, if I had to place it. This was a request!





	Still Got It- Coran and Doesn't Realize They're Injured

_‘This is quite bad,’_ Coran thought as he rushed through the Castle. All he knew was that he’d received an alarming message from Allura regarding the planet they had just landed on. The transmission had been choppy, and hard to make out, but Coran felt like what he’d heard would warrant enough concern to make a trip down himself. It went along the lines of, _“planet unsafe, inhabitants awful, something something Pidge something.”_ Maybe. Again, hard to make out. ‘Pidge’ might’ve been ‘bitch’, and if so, Coran would have to have a talk with Allura about language becoming of a princess. 

He didn’t wanted to draw a huge amount of attention to himself, so landing the Castle of Lions on the planet had been out of the picture. This was a diplomatic mission. He could risk relations with the Wambonians if things were actually going well and Allura was just complaining about Pidge. And if things really were going poorly, then he didn’t want to ruin his rescue mission. Although Coran hated to leave it unattended, he sucked it up and prepared the hover board Allura had used to fly down to the Balmera. 

It had been a _very_ long time since he’d used it, and he managed to truly terrify himself when he nearly botched the landing. Even though the vessel was unharmed, Coran found himself being pitched forward and smack into the ground. When he stood back up, he realized that his nose was bleeding. Apparently he had whacked it hard enough for that to happen. 

Coran carefully turned his head to check and see if he was able to actually move it. He could move, so there was nothing wrong with himself, he decided. 

He had just began creeping away when he realized he hadn’t bought anything to defend himself with. Quiznak. That could complicate things a bit if it were to come to fisticuffs. It had been a long time since he’d been in a decent fist fight. He was actually _almost_ hoping it would come to that, if nothing else, just to see whether he could still hold his own. But for now, stealth. 

Now where to start? This palace wasn’t that big- it was smaller than their ship. But there was no way of knowing what the layout was. In Coran’s mind, the Castle’s design was ideal, but there was no telling what these Wambonians would consider efficient. He cursed himself for not taking the time to make even a basic scan of the palace to get a schematic of the place. Oh well. He hadn’t, so he just had to take off and hope for the best. 

As he ran, Coran kept a close eye out for any sign of life. The further he went, the more uneasy he got when there was nothing. There was not a single living soul. _‘That just can’t be right,’_ he thought. Sure, the Wambos weren’t particularly numerous people, but the fact that he hadn’t seen a single one was concerning. Where were they? Was this a trap? Why would they need him if they already had the Paladins? Comparatively speaking, he wasn’t nearly as valuable as they were. Coran pushed those thoughts aside. Not encountering anyone hostile was a good thing. You don’t look a horse in the eyes. Or whatever it was that Lance had said that was some sort of Earth saying. 

And then, as his luck would have it, he stumbled upon what appeared to be some sort of break room. That was full of workers. Now seemed like the perfect time to try out that word that _Pidge_ had taught him. 

“Fuck!”

Well, he could see why she liked it. It was a very satisfying word. Simple, but able to convey emotions in a way few others could. ‘Quiznak’ came close, but it lacked the power that the monosyllabic ‘fuck’ held. Nicely done, humans. 

They saw him, and Coran realized he had just gotten in over his head. There was no chance of him taking them all on on his own. So he turned around and started sprinting as fast as he could. Which he was pleasantly surprised to find was faster than the Wambonians. They didn’t really have legs- their strong tentacle like appendages were wonderful for close-combat fighting, but didn’t provide them with much for speed. 

Coran felt something hard hit him from behind and leave behind an uncomfortable pricking sensation, but he didn’t pay it much attention. He had been correct in assuming that this was a rescue mission. Allura was in trouble, and he _needed_ to find her. She was the closest thing to family he had left- he considered her the daughter he’d never had. The thought of something happening to her was unbearable, and drove him to sprint faster. 

It hadn’t hurt _that_ bad. 

He had to admit now, there was a reason he generally stayed on the Castle during the Paladin’s missions. He wasn’t as young as he once was, and although he would never admit it to anyone else, he was feeling his age now. Running around was difficult, especially when he didn’t know where he was supposed to be going. Were there no quiznakkng maps in this dreadful monstrosity of a palace? He hadn’t passed a single one. Every hallway looked identical to the last, and he really had no way of knowing if he’d been doubling back by accident. 

However, as far as he knew, he was the only who was free to move around, so he had to keep searching. There was no way he would give up on them. 

But he had to have been getting close. He wasn’t sure how much more his lungs could handle. 

Finally, he turned to find a hallway that was dimly lit. That was a telltale sign of a dungeon- prisoners never got much for light. Sure enough, as he started to jog down the isle, he found barred doors and no windows, clearly meant for keeping people in. Although it was dark, gloomy, and an altogether miserable place, Coran couldn’t help but be a little glad that he’d managed to make it this far. He was getting close, he could feel it. He rushed passed cell after cell, all empty. But he refused to let that deter him. And it payed off. He was almost at the last cell when he caught a glimpse of movement and bright white hair. 

There she was. Safe, and as far as he could tell, unharmed. Except, perhaps, for some damage to her pride. 

“Allura! Oh thank goodness- you’re okay! _Quiznak!”_ He wheezed, bending over with his hands on his knees. He couldn’t remember the last time he had ran as much as he just had. “Just- need to catch- my breath. Where is- everyone- else?”

The princess looked incredibly concerned as Coran panted. “I’m not sure, we were separated early on- I believe some of them have escaped. Lance and Shiro have, at least. We’ve been able to communicate with one another, but just barely. Something here is messing with our transmitters, that’s the only thing I can think of.”

“Yes, that makes- perfect sense. The message I received- from you was very hard to decipher.” Coran agreed as he went about opening her cell. He was gradually regaining the ability to breathe normally, and straightening up as they spoke. “Woo! It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen this much action myself.”

Allura still looked concerned when she stepped out into the corridor beside him, so Coran tried his best to put on a smile. He seemed adamant that he was okay, and Allura trusted his judgement. Mostly. 

_“Found- ‘nk, looki- Keith n- dge.”_

“They found Hunk, but they still haven’t found Pidge or Keith,” Allura translated as best she could for Coran quickly. That was another thing he’d regretted not doing, bringing along some sort of radio to connect with them. Now he was reliant on whatever information Allura got. “We have heard from Keith though. He said she was the first one they turned on. We haven’t heard anything from Pidge at all. The others are all looking for them. And myself, I suppose. I’ll try and tell them that I’m free as well now, so they can focus on finding those two.”

Just as she finished speaking, another crackly message came through. The lack of quality of the transmissions here was incredibly frustrating. _“Found... ‘ith’... no word... yet.”_

“If I had to guess, I’d say they meant no word on Pidge yet,” Allura said grimly. They were all thinking the same thing. The longer they were apart, the likelihood that something even worse would happen was increasing. “So that should be everyone but her.”

“Ah, good. Perhaps we should regroup and stay together though,” Coran suggested, turning to look at their surroundings. It looked like he was mostly recovered, aside from a slight wheeze every now and then. He needed to start exercising again. “We don’t want to lose anyone else.”

“I tried saying that, but the boys aren’t wanting to listen- Coran, are you bleeding?!”

“What? Of course not prin- ah!” Coran cried out when Allura turned him around and pressed a firm hand against his back. He was surprised to see it come away bloody. Instinctively, he twisted an arm around to feel at his back and winced. “Oh- oh dear. That’s not good, is it?”

“No, Coran, it is not. Paladins, has anyone found Pidge yet? We need to get Coran back to the Castle right now, he is injured.”

Then it hit him like a freight train. He doubled over again, hands going back on his knees. How had he not felt that awful burning sensation on his back earlier? Well, it must not have been that serious. He’d still been able to run, after all. 

_“Oh- gonna- kay?”_ Whatever it was that was blocking their ability to communicate long distance with each other was making Allura want to scream. _So_ frustrating. Either these people were jamming them up on purpose, or the planet was just shitty enough to mess with communication devices on its own. They were all more than ready to leave. “Will- Castle- soon-“

Allura thought she understood what was trying to be said anyway. “He’ll be fine, but we need to hurry,” she said urgently. “You all find Pidge, I’m going to take him back.”

She took Coran’s hand and started to pull him away. He let her lead until they reached the end of the hallway, where they both realized that Allura had no clue of where to go. It was up to Coran then. This time, he had a general idea of where he needed to get to. He wasn’t just flying blind anymore. So they hurried through the palace, stopping every so often for Coran to try and muffle a wet cough that Allura didn’t like. She probably would’ve liked it even less if she’d seen the blood that came up with it. But he needed to get her to the Castle, so when the others arrived, they could make a speedy escape. He wasn’t about to hold them up with this. 

Compared to how long it took Coran to find her, they arrived back at the hover board that Coran had used. He was pleased to see that it apparently had gone unnoticed. He was more than happy to let her fly them back up. Technically he had more experience operating it, but it had also been over ten thousand years since he’d used it with any regularity. And he was starting to get extremely tired. That would just be an accident waiting to happen. 

Of course, they started getting shot at as soon as they were in the open air. It didn’t take long for the Wambonians to unleash enough firepower to make leaving the atmosphere almost as dangerous as staying. And the fact that they were on a wide-open and totally vulnerable hovercraft with no armor certainly didn’t increase their odds of survival. That didn’t stop Allura. She twisted and turned and dived, doing everything she could to avoid the dangerous explosions and make it to the Castle. Coran could only clutch her waist as tightly as they tumbled this way and that. He had to trust her. She was a very capable young woman, she could do it. 

And she did. 

Granted, Coran nearly killed her for how she did it. Without so much as a warning, she saw her chance and took it. She angled the board up vertically and rocketed as fast as she could towards the sky. Coran hadn’t seen that coming, and had nearly fallen off. The only thing that kept him from falling to his death was him throwing his arms around her neck and instinctively pulling himself closer. Bad idea. The sudden strain on her windpipe nearly made Allura flip the hover board upside down and spill them both on the ground. Luckily Coran quickly adjusted his grip back to around her stomach, and she was able to proceed to the Castle with no hitches after that. 

“Come on, Coran, lets get you to the infirmary.” Allura was speaking quickly. Coran didn’t think he’d seen her stand still once since he’d retrieved her from the Wambonian’s cell. There wasn’t anything he could say to calm her down, so he just had to go along with her. 

He took over once they reached the pod room. A part of him wanted to tell Allura that this wasn’t necessary, but as he was preparing a pod for himself, he found his movements were becoming sluggish. He was smart enough to know that was a sign that he needed some rest. But he’d be damned if he waited to be healed completely. So when Allura wasn’t looking, he programmed the pod to release him as soon as he was well enough to survive, rather than until he was completely healed. He could deal with some sore muscles. He was more concerned with what the fuck _(lovely_ word) had happened down on the planet. 

Oh, but it was nice to feel himself being pushed inside the pod. It was cool and calm, quite the contrast to the wild, sweaty hullabaloo that had gone down below them. Coran turned around in time to see the pod sliding shut and Allura turning her attention to the door. And there were the Paladins, walking in to meet the princess. 

And then he was out. 

Allura counted silently as the Paladins arrived. One, two, three, four... 

“Where is Pidge?”

They were all silent and looked at Keith. He had been the last one with her. 

“She wasn’t there,” Keith said grimly. “I really hoped they hadn’t- they thought she would be the first one to crack. I couldn’t- they handed her over to the Galra.”

Allura experienced a sudden heart palpitation when she realized exactly what it was that this betrayal had done to them. Their Green Paladin was gone. _Pidge was gone._

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, this one was another one that was just a bit disappointing to me, and I feel really bad about that because it was a request. Obviously, this is setting up for another work- and there's a nod towards the prompt there at the end! That one may take a bit though, I'm still deciding which way I want to take it. Anyhoo, feel free to shoot me a request @ http://the-sinnamon-roll-writes.tumblr.com/ !


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